tourist destination . . . . not.

every morning the first thing i do after i turn on the computer is look at my blog stats. due to my current un-employment status, i can no longer use income as a indicator of how i’m doing in the outside world so blog readership is the substitute. it makes me feel like i have something to do that matters (although i am under no delusion that it does).

my first and most important daily assignment is to see how many visitors read my blog the day before, and then i move onto content. wordpress offers statistics on the pages that were viewed as well as the country each reader is located. it’s always interesting when i see countries like india, japan or russia listed on ‘my morning report’. many times i use way too much time imagining a japanese monk surfing the net over tea in his zen garden or, a native indian in the squatting position on his dirt floor in rajasthan navigating the web with one hand and scooping breakfast porridge into his mouth with the other.

you can imagine my surprise when this morning i saw a reader had visited my zen city all the way from the isle of man. what?? did i hear you thinking that you’ve never heard of the isle of man? well, no worries, i hadn’t either.

since you most likely have a job to get to, i will save you the trip towikipedia and give you a quick summary here, straight from the big book:

The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC

The Isle of Man is located in the middle of the northern Irish Sea

The main telephone provider on the Isle of Man is Manx Telecom

The island was ruled by Manannán mac Lir, a Celtic sea god, who would draw his misty cloak around the island to protect it from invaders

Traditionally the national dish of the island is Spuds and Herrin (but!) A more recent claim for the title of national dish would be the ubiquitous chips, cheese and gravy. This dish, which is similar to poutine, is found in most of the island’s fast-food outlets, and consists of thick cut chips, covered in shredded Cheddar cheese and topped with a thick gravy

There are two domestic animals specifically connected to the Isle of Man

1. The Manx cat is a breed of cat noted for having a genetic mutation that causes it to have a shortened tail. The length of this tail can range from a few inches, known as a “stumpy“, to being completely nonexistent, or “rumpy”

2. The Manx Loaghtan sheep is a breed native to the island. It has dark brown wool and four, or sometimes six horns

and finally, the bee gee’s (maurice gibb, barry gibb and robin gibb) were born & raised on the isle of man.

When do we leave? I have heard of The Isle of Man my Aunt & Uncle have friends who run a B&B on the Isle. I agree there is some validation in checking our stats than came to realize I was more interested in the people who visited. Unemployment stinks and she be reserved for our politicians!